Studio for a Composer, Spring Prairie, Wis.

outbuilding / merit

This freestanding studio for a guitarist/composer drew architects Brian Johnsen, AIA, and Sebastian Schmaling, AIA, LEED AP, into their client’s creative process. “We were motivated artistically to do something inspiring,” Johnsen says, in a building that marries technical capability with a sense of poetry. The studio’s steel-clad shell—inspired by the rusting farm implements abandoned in the overgrown fields nearby—provides sound insulation, while its ends open to meditative forest views. The ipe-lined entry offers a modernist take on the timeless appeal of pickin’ on the porch. “It’s incredibly clear,” remarked one judge, “like a painting in the forest.”